Exodus: Best Time To Leave

Katka · Post by **Katka** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:49 pm

Hey

I'm trying to arrange a flight out of Reno Monday and was wondering if anybody can tell me what its like leaving BRC at 5 or 6 AM that morning.

Last year we departed camp mid-day Sunday and it took about three hours just to get to Gerlach.

I REALLY want to book a noon flight home, since I'm going a long way, but don't know if thats realistic.

Has anyone here been witness to any quick and easy exoduses (exodi) between afterburn and the end of Monday?

thirt33n · Post by **thirt33n** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:05 pm

not really any tricks.....
just think about the time you'll most likely NOT want to leave and you'll find the best answer.

catching a noon monday flight?
i'd leave after the temple burn(s) and before dawn on monday.....

i have had some of my most memorable experiences on the exit road. it's an emotional ride not to be forgotten.

there are those who can't stand the line and the heat and how long it takes and there are those who make the most out of every last second.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:35 pm

Monday morning is pretty swamped - everyone in the world is trying to go somewhere then. I usually leave Tuesday or later

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:41 pm

Seriously, I'd suggest extending your return to work to Wednesday (assuming your return to work is now Tuesday).

Either break your long flight into two stages leaving Monday afternoon and staying overnight somewhere or depart on Tuesday morning or noonish and give yourself the comfort of time. Things are way better on Tuesday after the hordes of burners have left.

Oh, and while you're at it, volunteer to work at Exodus on Monday. :->

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:44 pm

At 6am it should be relatively clear. Most of the people leaving in the morning won't be ready by then. There will be other people leaving and there's always the chance of weather or an accident shutting down the gate so I'd add a couple hours to the normal transit+returning car+getting to the airport early time.

You can always hit a buffet or something in Reno if you get there early.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:05 pm

Exodus is well underway at 0600 monday. Lots of people start packing after the temple burn, and start leaving

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:48 pm

Wednesday morning- no traffic.
No one else at all.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:00 pm

6 am Exodus, clear or not clear? only one way to decide....Dork, how many burns have ya been to? mdm, how many Burns ya been to?

EspressoDude · Post by **EspressoDude** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:04 pm

Best time to leave is before you get there.......

Leave your mind

leave the outside world

leave your cares behind

leave your sanity.

leave your money..

etc.

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:32 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:6 am Exodus, clear or not clear? only one way to decide....Dork, how many burns have ya been to? mdm, how many Burns ya been to?

I'm not going to claim more burniness than mdmf! When I say "relatively clear" I mean you should see reasonable slow but steady forward progress, as opposed to the 3-6 hour crawl you'd see later in the day. I certainly don't mean to suggest you'll be able to fly through at top speed. I stand by adding 2 hours to travel time, but of course more is always better if you're flying a route that won't have a later flight you can switch to if you run into problems. It looks like the population is jumping again this year, so it could make things go even slower than usual.

Katka · Post by **Katka** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:23 pm

I know, totally: Tuesday or Wednesday would be awesome. I'm just trying to get back for a 9AM class on Tuesday--that I will have missed the week before. (Its a new graduate program for me and I'm trying not to be a jerk...) After temple burn and pre-dawn seems like the best option, especially if most people are still out partying then (and hopefully not me and my car load!)--but even if just 10,000 people declare themselves geniuses by leaving at 5AM, that might mean a mighty traffic issue.

So, if we decide to leave early, how early is kosher to start moving around in non-mutant vehicles? I know driving around the playa aint cool at night--or so I believe. Can we pack up and go at 4, 5, 6AM even if it not totally light out?

CLARKcon · Post by **CLARKcon** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:43 pm

Not to try and confuse you, but all the people who think it would be the time that no one else is going is probably when everyone is going to leave. Soooo, try to think twice the time that no one would go, like 12:45 AM on Sunday night. I've never been in a quick Exodus, but like thirt33n said, kinda enjoy the 3-4 hour closure to the week by sitting there smokin' cigs and watching people make out, pass around candy, cry/laugh, etc. Sometimes you need to allow yourself time for living without punctuality to happen. This is one of those times

Dork · Post by **Dork** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:46 pm

You can drive in a non-mutant vehicle at any time as long as you stay on the streets and are actually entering or leaving the event. Just use your low beams, drive really slow, and if necessary have someone walk alongside the car to guide you.

I'd recommend you do as much packing as possible before sundown the previous night. You're less likely to leave moop and more likely to actually leave when you plan to.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:48 pm

There isn't a rule about when you can drive a non-mutant vehicle, as long as it's directly from the gate to your camp upon first arrival, or from your camp directly to the gate to leave the event.
There is proper etiquette though; stay on the established streets, drive from your camp straight to the outer ring road, then to the gate. And go ultra-slow, whether night or day.

Yep, a whole lot of people have come up with the idea to leave early and avoid the jam. If you wanna roll right out, I'd say go REAL early, like 3AM or so.

Captain Goddammit · Post by **Captain Goddammit** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:49 pm

OK, so Dork and I were typing simultaneously, in a parallel universe... almost stereophonically...

phil · Post by **phil** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:35 pm

Please drive safely on the playa - there will be people asleep on the ground.

Please drive safely on the blacktop - cows lurk there, so don't drive faster than your lightbeams.

Post by **mdmf007** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:38 pm

I remember guns on playa - hows that? Im just telling my experiences. I see the rigs slowly making their way out, monday morning in the dark. It seems to crawl after daybreak though. I usually leave to the East to Jungo road and have no problems a lot of others hit Jungo as well

Just look for the microwave transmitter the road off the plaay to the east is right at the base of it. No trailers, or cars will make it. The egress over the train tracks is too steep both sides. A ford explorer scrapes but makes it. Dont be like the asshat BM 2007 that watched his rig explode into a billion pieces of moop when a train demolished it!!! -well messed it up pretty good.

this is from 1999

article here
http://ian.kluft.com/blackrock/train-safety.html

thirt33n · Post by **thirt33n** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:28 pm

....hmm, I may go Jungo again this year. I didn't know about the "secret" tower base exit.....now I kinda miss the exit road party....

Post by **mdmf007** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:21 am

check out googleearth - youll see where Jungo road comes real close to the playa, and you can plainly see the microwave tower. thats the landmark you need.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:29 am

is the microwave tower area the only playa exit to Jungo? It sounds like a Subaru Outback pulling a trailer with 12" wheels may not make it over the crossing. whaddya think?

Post by **mdmf007** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:39 am

You can stop and walk it - theres only a hundred yards thats questionable. It changes year to year, so its hard to say. i doubt it though. Trailers are hard to get through because of the angle of departure.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:13 am

Stay late and help clean up, sure cure for the post-burn blues!

thirt33n · Post by **thirt33n** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:50 am

mdmf007 wrote:check out googleearth - youll see where Jungo road comes real close to the playa, and you can plainly see the microwave tower. thats the landmark you need.

I remember coming in on Jungo(in my 78 VW van)2001 and wishing I could just cut over the tracks....i assumed they weren't letting anyone in OR out that way.....still beats winnemucca lovelock indian taco traffic line asshat pass to get there 3 car lengths ahead of you route...

I'm thinkin' of stayin' later than normal. We ended up leaving at peak-ish hours last year. 9am monday morning. it must've taken three hours to get to the road but like I said, it was some of the best time we had the whole week with the passing out your last gifts and catching all the final nakedness and we have an RV so we had a revolving party of people, mostly beautiful women, who we invited to use our restroom......

...also, we came and left from the north west towards Alturas and if you have to head down south with the majority you're in for the infinite line of traffic.

move to the northwest and you'll never have to deal with that again.

exodus, exit road party, playa access road, right turn to Alturas, no Gerlach, no traffic, bye bye

Post by **AntiM** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:21 am

9 am open Monday is not great, but it is not the peak time. Monday afternoon increases exodus to six hours. Staying until Tuesday violates the BLM permit, one of these years they'll decide to enforce that.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:44 pm

You have to be doing something useful tuesday.
But that isn't hard to find.
They do enforce it.

phil · Post by **phil** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:12 pm

> Staying until Tuesday violates the BLM permit, one of these years
> they'll decide to enforce that.

One of the reasons Exodus sucks is that they don't have enough volunteers to staff it and to guide people out of lanes with breakdowns, etc. I whined about exodus for a couple of years, so Louise and I decided to do what we could to help instead. We got our flagger licenses from the State of Nevada and spent a couple of shifts out at the Gerlach intersection waving people through or holding them up for the jerkoff cops and state troopers.

It actually was a lot of fun, and I was completely surprised at how friendly everyone was after spending all those hours in line before the blacktop and then still in line on the way to Gerlach.

Getting 40,000 people onto a two-lane blacktop over a couple of days will always suck. That's why it's nice to volunteer for work on Sunday and Monday, then leave Tuesday. Sadly, I know that some people have to get back to the real world on Tuesday, so they have to leave Sunday or Monday - c'est la vie.

But if you have any slack at all getting back, please consider volunteering for Exodus and stay for work on Monday.

Post by **mdmf007** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:28 pm

Phil -

I am sure all the BLM would do is tell you to bounce. Im there through Tuesday or wednesday, and BLM doesnt appear to be hassling anyone.

thirt33n · Post by **thirt33n** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:51 pm

mdmf007 wrote:Phil -

I am sure all the BLM would do is tell you to bounce. Im there through Tuesday or wednesday, and BLM doesnt appear to be hassling anyone.

well, mdmf, i'm sure it's not like your standing around with your finger up, wait,...nevermind.

somekind · Post by **somekind** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:17 pm

Just leave that night. If you have to wait a few hours for your plane, that's just good luck.

Pack your car and ride back after the burn. Hop in and split. Add 2-4 hours to your expected travel time.

Sleep the rest.

OK???

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:18 pm

AntiM wrote:9 am open Monday is not great, but it is not the peak time. Monday afternoon increases exodus to six hours. Staying until Tuesday violates the BLM permit, one of these years they'll decide to enforce that.

If it looks like the enforcement is going to change then the ORG will likely renegotiate the permits. Remember, this is BLM Winnemucca's cash cow / marquee event. They will have "some" flexibility and tolerance...or at least they should.